State Police today were continuing their investigation of the three-vehicle accident on the Severn River Bridge that took the lives of two Crownsville residents and injured two people.

Max Briceno, 25, and Cheryl E. Fincham, 23, both of Crownsville, were pronounced dead at the scene of the accident yesterday.

Everett Payton Jr., 27, of Oxon Hill, was taken to the Shock-Trauma Unit in Baltimore, where he was listed today in serious but stable condition.

Priscilla Lyons, 64, of White Stone, Va., was treated for minor injuries at Anne Arundel General Hospital and Medical Center and released.

Sgt. Kevin Lambert, a State Police spokesman, described the accident this way:

A truck pulling a utility trailer carrying lawn equipment broke down in the fast lane on the U.S. 50 bridge about 9:35 a.m. The occupants of the truck, Briceno and Fincham, apparently got out to investigate the cause of the breakdown.

Briceno was standing between his truck and the trailer when a pickup truck driven by Payton struck the rear of trailer, trapping Briceno and severing his legs.

Fincham also was struck by the pickup truck, and received a head injury, Lambert said.

After striking the trailer, Payton's pickup swerved into the middle lane, causing a vehicle driven by Lyons to strike the trailer, Lambert said.

Initially, police reported that Lyons was a passenger in the third vehicle. But police later said she was the driver and only one in the vehicle.

The accident resulted in the closing of the eastbound lanes of the bridge for two hours, and a traffic backup for several miles in both directions, police said.